Civil Society and the Zuma Government

Civil Society and the Zuma Government PDF Author: Yvette Geyer
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1920409106
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
A healthy democracy needs a government that understands that it has to share some of its power with civil society, the realm in which citizens acquire a voice, enabling them to ensure that government responds to their needs and is accountable to them in an ongoing representative manner beyond the ballot box. The public debate on whether there are centralist impulses evident in the ANC as the dominant electoral force raises questions about the nature of democracy and the state of South Africa. Is there a danger of government distinguishing between development and democracy and acting as if they are mutually exclusive? African democracy institute Idasa and the International Development Research Centre held a roundtable discussion, of which this publication is the result, on the role of civil society, the areas of involvement for civil society, the policy recommendations to be made and areas of research need to be explored.

Civil Society and the Zuma Government

Civil Society and the Zuma Government PDF Author: Yvette Geyer
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1920409106
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
A healthy democracy needs a government that understands that it has to share some of its power with civil society, the realm in which citizens acquire a voice, enabling them to ensure that government responds to their needs and is accountable to them in an ongoing representative manner beyond the ballot box. The public debate on whether there are centralist impulses evident in the ANC as the dominant electoral force raises questions about the nature of democracy and the state of South Africa. Is there a danger of government distinguishing between development and democracy and acting as if they are mutually exclusive? African democracy institute Idasa and the International Development Research Centre held a roundtable discussion, of which this publication is the result, on the role of civil society, the areas of involvement for civil society, the policy recommendations to be made and areas of research need to be explored.

Enemy of the People

Enemy of the People PDF Author: Adriaan Basson
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
ISBN: 1868428192
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Enemy of the People is the first definitive account of Zuma's catastrophic misrule, offering eyewitness descriptions and cogent analysis of how South Africa was brought to its knees – and how a people fought back. When Jacob Zuma took over the leadership of the ANC one muggy Polokwane evening in December 2007, he inherited a country where GDP was growing by more than 6% per annum, a party enjoying the support of two-thirds of the electorate, and a unified tripartite alliance. Today, South Africa is caught in the grip of a patronage network, the economy is floundering and the ANC is staring down the barrel of a defeat at the 2019 general elections. How did we get here? Zuma first brought to heel his party, Africa's oldest and most revered liberation movement, subduing and isolating dissidents associated with his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. Then saw the emergence of the tenderpreneur and those attempting to capture the state, as well as a network of family, friends and business associates that has become so deeply embedded that it has, in effect, replaced many parts of government. Zuma opened up the state to industrial-scale levels of corruption, causing irreparable damage to state enterprises, institutions of democracy, and the ANC itself. But it hasn't all gone Zuma's way. Former allies have peeled away. A new era of activism has arisen and outspoken civil servants have stepped forward to join a cross-section of civil society and a robust media. As a divided ANC square off for the elective conference in December, where there is everything to gain or to lose, award-winning journalists Adriaan Basson and Pieter du Toit offer a brilliant and up-to-date account of the Zuma era.

From Revolution to Rights in South Africa

From Revolution to Rights in South Africa PDF Author: Steven L. Robins
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1847012019
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
The author argues for the continued importance of NGOs, social movements and other 'civil society' actors in creating new forms of citizenship and democracy in South Africa. Critics of liberalism in Europe and North America argue that a stress on 'rights talk' and identity politics has led to fragmentation, individualisation and depoliticisation. But are these developments really signs of 'the end ofpolitics'? In the post-colonial, post-apartheid, neo-liberal new South Africa poor and marginalised citizens continue to struggle for land, housing and health care. They must respond to uncertainty and radical contingencies on a daily basis. This requires multiple strategies, an engaged, practised citizenship, one that links the daily struggle to well organised mobilisation around claiming rights. Robins argues for the continued importance of NGOs, socialmovements and other 'civil society' actors in creating new forms of citizenship and democracy. He goes beyond the sanitised prescriptions of 'good governance' so often touted by development agencies. Instead he argues for a complex, hybrid and ambiguous relationship between civil society and the state, where new negotiations around citizenship emerge. Steven L. Robins is Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Stellenbosch and editorof Limits to Liberation after Apartheid (James Currey). Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland): University of KwaZulu-Natal Press (PB)

The Role of Civil Society in Democracy Consolidation. Rethinking State-Civil Society Relations in South Africa

The Role of Civil Society in Democracy Consolidation. Rethinking State-Civil Society Relations in South Africa PDF Author: Joseph Nangombe Tobias
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783346010322
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Africa, grade: 67.5, University of Namibia, course: State and Civil Society, language: English, abstract: This essay appraises civil society's relations with the state in south africa in recent times. It focuses on democratic consideration and argues that despite relative weaknesses in civil societies in Africa recently, they continue to play a major role in maintaining and protecting democratic standards and Human Rights in South Africa. Recent events involving former president Jacob Zuma are a case in point of this article. It is argued that civil society is and will continue to be crucial in democratic consolidation and will therefore ensure its survival despite its uphill battle. The paper concludes that civil society's action inSouth Africa should set an example for other African nations on the powers and activism of civil society organisations and their roles in holding government accountable.

Testing Democracy

Testing Democracy PDF Author: Neeta Misra-Dexter
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1920409386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
The book interrogates the relationship between democracy and development and how underdevelopment prevents citizens from participating in democracy. Section One is a collection of experts writing on key issues such as the single-party state; development policy; poverty, inequality and growth; the institutions of governance; the public service; and the role of civil society. Section Two, Idasas Democracy Index 2010, releases Idasas findings on Participation, Elections, Accountability, Political Freedom, Human Dignity and Democracy. The third in Idasas Democracy Index series, this book argues that democracy needs economic development along with an embedded system of institutions, supported by active citizens and a vibrant political culture.

Kingdom, State and Civil Society in Africa: Conceptual and Political Collisions

Kingdom, State and Civil Society in Africa: Conceptual and Political Collisions PDF Author: Nelson Kasfir
Publisher: BASLER AFRIKA BIBLIOGRAPHIEN
ISBN: 390575889X
Category : Associations, institutions, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Civil society is one of several Western political and social concepts that have not traveled successfully to Africa. Revived in response to the search for democracy in Eastern Europe during the late Soviet era, Western donors promoted and funded new civil society organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, regarding them as an essential grounding for African democratization. Most of these new civil society organizations had little in common with African associational activity. Focusing on the characteristics and behavior of longstand-ing African organizations would appear a better starting point for developing a useful concept of an African civil society. One candidate worth serious investigation is the Buganda Kingdom Government. This organization violates most distinctions central to Western notions of civil society. Yet it continues to behave like a civil society organization. Its political and conceptual collisions offer guidance toward a useful notion of African civil society and understanding Ugandan politics.

Civil Society Organisations and State-Owned Enterprises in South Africa: Promoting Accountability and Corporate Governance

Civil Society Organisations and State-Owned Enterprises in South Africa: Promoting Accountability and Corporate Governance PDF Author: Gudo, Julieth
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040031560
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
This book examines the important role which civil society organisations in South Africa play in challenging poor corporate governance in state-owned enterprises and demanding better government accountability, transparency and citizen participation. The book provides a powerful examination of the shortcomings in corporate governance in South Africa's state-owned enterprises, highlighting how civil society organisations, as citizen representatives, can push for change. It examines the legal provisions used by civil society organisations in South Africa to advance good corporate governance and accountability in state-owned enterprises. The book demonstrates the need for an enabling legal environment for civil society organisations to challenge poor governance in state-owned enterprises. Also critical is enforcing laws, so those responsible for poor corporate governance in SOEs are held accountable. The book will be useful to policy advisors, public servants and social justice activists, as well as to postgraduate students and researchers who are interested in African governance and accountability.

New South African Review 2

New South African Review 2 PDF Author: Devan Pillay
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1868147932
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
An explanation of the New Growth Plan and alternatives to neo-liberal and capitalist development in South Africa In this second volume of the New South African Review, the New Growth Path adopted by the South African government in 2010 provides the basis for a dialogue about whether 'decent work' is the best solution to South Africa's problems of low economic growth and high unemployment. There are investigations into rising inequality against the backdrop of the failings of Black Economic Empowerment; 'greening the economy', with emphasis on biofuels; the crisis of acid mine drainage on the Witwatersrand; possibilities for participatory forms of government; civil society activism; transformation of the print media and the SABC; the crisis in child care in public hospitals; the relationship between the police and a township community; the problems related to the absence of legislation to govern the powers of traditional authorities over land allocation; and assessments of the state of opposition political parties and the ANC Alliance. Asking whether the New Growth Plan reflects a set of new policies or an attempt to re-dress old (com)promises in new clothes, this volume brings together different voices in debate about possibilities for alternatives to neo-liberal and capitalist development in South Africa.

The State of the People

The State of the People PDF Author: Bert Klandermans
Publisher: HSRC Press
ISBN: 9780796919854
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The period 1994 to 2000 saw the implementation of fundamental social and political change in South Africa. Social science literature suggests that such fundamental change increases the probability of civil conflict and strife, as some sectors of the population expect significant improvements in their position following the removal of economic and political barriers that previously inhibited their upward mobility. Other sectors are concerned about a possible decrease in their living standards as a result of the erosion of their privileged position. Still others experience increased uncertainty, which in itself is associated with significant social change.

Civic Agency in Africa

Civic Agency in Africa PDF Author: Ebenezer Obadare
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1847010865
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Examines the variety of mostly unorganized and informal ways in which Africans exercise agency and resist state power in the 21st century, through citizen action and popular culture, and how the relationship between ruler and ruled is being reframed.